Panel mountable fuse holders have been heretofore constructed of two different basic configurations. In the more old and conventional form, the fuse holder has a body mountable in a panel opening, the body having a fuse-receiving passageway adapted to receive a cylindrical fuse projecting rearwardly from a fuse carrier. The fuse thus extends transversely of the panel in which the fuse holder is mounted. The carrier includes a terminal strip which connects with the fuse end cap of the fuse and is exposed on the side of the carrier to make connection with a terminal within the fuse holder body, as does the rear end cap thereof. The fuse carrier with the cylindrical fuse projecting rearwardly therefrom is inserted within the fuse-receiving passageway of the fuse holder body and is releasably locked therein by a bayonet-type joint, threaded connection or some other interlocking means. Since the terminal strip of the fuse carrier can be inadvertently grasped, a shock hazard exists if the strip touches the fuse holder body terminal as the carrier is being inserted into the fuse holder body. Various constructions were devised to avoid this shock hazard. This type of fuse holder generally requires a large number of parts and requires a more complex assembly operation than the other type of fuse holder now to be described. U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,252, granted Apr. 25, 1972 discloses this first type of fuse holder.
The other type of fuse holder referred to is a box type fuse, as exemplified by the fuse holder construction shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,368, granted Nov. 21, 1978. This fuse holder has a box-like fuse holder body mountable in an a panel opening and includes at the rear of a fuse-receiving passageway thereof a pair of horizontally spaced terminal clips positioned parallel to the panel. The fuse carrier for this fuse holder has a generally C-shaped fuse carrying clip at the rear end thereof which tightly receives a cylindrical fuse oriented parallel to the panel. The fuse carrying clip is located at the juncture of a pair of compressible arms which when compressed allows the fuse carrier to be inserted within the fuse-receiving passageway of the fuse holder body, and when released becomes locked within the fuse holder body in a position where the fuse end caps are nestled within the terminal clips of the fuse holder body. The fuse carrier is removed from the fuse holder body by compressing these arms and withdrawing the carrier from the fuse holder body.
The present invention is an improvement over the type of fuse holder disclosed in this U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,368, among various reasons, in that the carrier is permanently connected to the fuse holder body and related thereto in a manner to be more conveniently manipulated during insertion and partial removal of the carrier from the fuse holder body. Also, it is designed to carry a spare fuse, and is constructed so as to ensure a most effective electrical contact between the fuse end caps and the fuse terminal clips of the fuse holder body, despite variations in the relative positions of the fuse end caps and the fuse holder clips caused by tolerance limitations.